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Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope is a child-friendly introduction to team-based strategy games, able to teach young players about skill trees and various gaming lingo that will carry through their gaming lives. These skill trees may be simple, but picking the right skills near the beginning of the game will allow every character to shine on the battlefield and reach their full potential. Characters unlock skills when they level up, earning one skill prism to spend on every character. As the levels increase, the wait time between skill prisms will as well, giving players another reason to make smart choices with the prisms they have.
At the start of the game, players have Mario, who is no longer required to be on the team, Princess Peach, Luigi, Rabbid Mario, Rabbid Peach, and Rabbid Luigi. These characters bring something different to every battle through a unique weapon or their special technique, such as Rabbid Luigi's Exhaust. Each character has four skill trees: Health, Movement, Critical Damage, and Technique (with a fifth unlocked later). This guide focuses on the skills players should buy with their first five skill prisms for these characters.
Best Skills for Mario
The Mario Brothers mirror each other in many ways throughout the franchise, and in Sparks of Hope, their weapons and techniques are quite similar. Both have long-ranged weapons and their techniques target any moving characters within range. However, Mario is capable of targeting multiple enemies with his dual pistols, so his focus early on will be on the Weapon skill tree. Four of the first five skill prisms can completely buy Mario's two upgrades for critical hit chance and weapon range. His last skill prism goes into a glide boost, so he can better position himself around the battlefield.
Best Skills for Princess Peach
Mario's damsel in distress now wields a shotgun umbrella in Sparks of Hope, A.K.A the Boom-Brella, which deals more damage the closer she is to enemies. Her more interesting mechanic, however, is her Team Barrier, discussed as one of the many interesting special abilities revealed within the game during its preview stages. The Team Barrier blocks a number of attacks equal to the number of charges. Peach's play style focuses on getting within range of enemies and allies alike, so her first skill prism goes to her glide boost. The next skill prism will increase the range of the Team Barrier, but players should save the next three skill prisms to purchase another charge for their technique. The more charges a character has, the better equipped they are to enter crowded areas and mow down enemies.
Best Skills for Luigi
Just as Luigi plays a ing role in his brother's life, so too does he wield a traditional secondary weapon; the Sharpshooter, a large bow that shoots powerful bolts at enemies such as the Giant Wildclaw. His technique in Sparks of Hope, despite sharing the same triggers and effects as Mario's, naturally does 20% more damage, making it important to continue strengthening the skill. His highly focused shots mean he requires a wider range of skills to make him more than a one-trick pony. Luigi does more damage the farther he is from a target, so players can ignore his low health and the Movement skill tree for now. Instead, they should completely upgrade the damage output of his Steely Stare technique. This is followed up by one his Sharpshooter's critical hit damage, while the last two skill prisms are saved to lower Steely Stare's cooldown.
Best Skills for Rabbid Mario
Rabbid Mario is a pugilist like Doomfist from Overwatch 2, with two gauntlets that deal damage at close range. He needs to quickly traverse the arena in Sparks of Hope and obliterate clumps of enemies with one attack. This means his focus is on the Weapon and Movement skill trees. Players should spend their first skill prism to increase Rabbid Mario's movement range, so he can reach those enemy clumps. His critical hit chance needs to be as high as possible with two more skill prisms, with the hope that one of the three waves he unleashes does critical damage. The last two skill prisms go into increasing his gauntlet damage.
Best Skills for Rabbid Peach
Rabbid Peach combines the dainty aesthetic of a princess with explosive madness in Sparks of Hope, sending out missiles that ignore Partial Cover and slaughtering her foes. The ability to ignore partial cover is a game-changer, which means players can spend time improving their healing ability. In the early stages of the game, players won't have a lot of Super Mushrooms to heal themselves with, which means if characters get into trouble, Rabbid Peach is the only one who can bail them out. The first skill prism for Rabbid Peach should go towards her glide boost, so she can get closer to allies in need of healing. That healing effect should be increased with two skill prisms, followed by the Healing Jump, which allows Rabbid Peach to heal allies within a 5-meter range when she lands from a glide for the first time in a turn. This jump will be useful later on when fighting the third boss, Bedrock.
Best Skills for Rabbid Luigi
Rabbid Luigi may be able to target three enemies with his weapon in Sparks of Hope, but it is his Exhaust technique that makes him stand out from the other heroes. He can severely weaken nearby enemies, protecting his friends from large swarms and tough bosses. This game-changing move means his early skill prisms go into the Technique skill tree. The first skill prism should go into reducing Exhaust's cooldown time, while the next should be spent on increasing range. Players should use the third skill prism on a glide boost, so Rabbid Luigi can reach his allies in need, but the last two need to be saved to fully upgrade Exhaust's range.
As skill costs grow and grow, players will have to strategize on whether to save new skill prisms for expensive upgrades or buy the cheapest options. While more characters will the team as the game continues, such as Rabbid Rosalina appearing while fighting Midnite, the original six characters should remain focused on expanding their early builds before spending skill prisms on less vital abilities. Every hero in Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope has been engineered to bring a new play style to the game, and players can enjoy using each one to their full ability with the right skill choices.
